Make-A-Wish puts disabled teen in the driver's seat

K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune

Erin Danzer, 18, of Oceanside sits inside her new car, which was adapted for her special needs by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in San Diego and Golden Boy Mobility in Poway. Danzer has a connective tissue disease that makes it impossible to drive the car her parents bought for her.

Erin Danzer, 18, of Oceanside sits inside her new car, which was adapted for her special needs by the Make-A-Wish Foundation in San Diego and Golden Boy Mobility in Poway. Danzer has a connective tissue disease that makes it impossible to drive the car her parents bought for her. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Every year, the Make-A-Wish Foundation grants about 225 wishes for San Diego children with life-threatening illnesses. Some kids ask for a trip to Hawaii or Legoland, others want to spend a day as a Marine or a superhero. But on Monday night, the foundation granted a wish like no other.

For the first time in the local chapter’s history, the organization granted a teen’s wish for independence. With help from Golden Boy Mobility in Poway, the foundation underwrote the cost of adapting a car so that 18-year-old Erin Danzer of Oceanside could drive herself.

Because of a connective tissue disease that limits her mobility, Danzer was not able to drive a car. For years she has relied on family, friends, buses and Lyft services to get to school and to her job at a local movie theater.

The challenge of juggling everything without a car became too much for her last year and she took a break from her college studies. Now, with her adapted car, she said she looks forward to doing her own errands, driving herself to the beach and listening to audio-books on her car stereo.

“I felt really bad asking for rides, using the bus, buying $5 bus passes that I hardly used. It was expensive and it was really difficult,” she said. “Now that I’ll be able to drive, I can go to work, go back to school and go pick up meals from the store anytime I want. I really do like driving.”

On Monday night, Erin and her parents, Kenneth and Lori Danzer, arrived at Golden Boy Mobility for the unveiling ceremony. The family’s new cherry red Chevrolet Spark, nicknamed “Sparky,” has been outfitted with a steering wheel extension, special mirrors that allow Erin a 180-degree view of her surroundings and a spinner knob on the steering wheel to make turning easier. With her learner’s permit in hand and her mom by her side, Erin drove out of the shop and home to Oceanside with a smile on her face.

K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune

Erin Danzer, 18, of Oceanside smiles when she sees her newly adapted car at Golden Boy Mobility in Poway on Monday night.

Erin was born with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, a genetic disorder so rare there are fewer than 800 diagnosed cases in the world. Known as FOB, the disease advances rapidly in childhood and causes connective tissue and muscles to turn to bone. Any trauma to a muscle or immune action causes ribbons of bone to to grow across joints, essentially growing a second skeleton inside the body, Lori Danzer said.

The disease is very painful and and debilitating. Erin can no longer run or play sports, she can’t reach out with her arms and can’t turn her head from side to side. But her father, Kenneth, said his daughter has rarely let FOB get her down. She has an active life, a job and frequently attends concerts.

“She’s very fun-loving and social. It’s amazing how she has found ways to work around the disease. She doesn’t let the pain overtake her attitude,” he said.

When Erin was a sophomore at Mission Vista High School, many of her friends were getting their driver’s licenses, but she didn’t see the point of attending driver’s education herself. She couldn’t reach the steering wheel and didn’t have the range of motion to turn it, and when her parents tried moving the car seat closer to the dashboard, her ankles would cramp.

“Sometimes I wish I started driving at 16, but I just waited,” she said.

About 18 months ago, the Make-A-Wish Foundation learned about Erin’s condition and offered to grant her a wish. Lori said that at first her daughter talked about meeting a favorite band or author, since music, books and writing are three of her passions. But then, after meeting Sean Petersen of Golden Boy Mobility at the San Diego auto show in January 2016, they figured out the perfect wish.

K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune

Family and friends of Oceanside resident Erin Danzer, 18, center, at her wish-granting ceremony at Golden Boy Mobility in Poway on Monday. The Make-A-Wish Foundation in San Diego paid to have her car specially adapted for her medical needs.

Family and friends of Oceanside resident Erin Danzer, 18, center, at her wish-granting ceremony at Golden Boy Mobility in Poway on Monday. The Make-A-Wish Foundation in San Diego paid to have her car specially adapted for her medical needs. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Suzanne Husby, vice president of mission delivery for Make-A-Wish San Diego, said she’s never heard of a wish like Erin’s. They have had teens asks to have their cars repainted or refurbished, but this was the first request for a car adaptation.

“The thing so special is her wish is to have independence,” Husby said. “To her, that meant driving herself like other kids her age. That was such a heartfelt wish and we were very happy to do it.”

Granting that wish took almost a year. Erin worked with a driving evaluator at Golden Mobility who determined what adaptations she would need to drive safely and what car models had easy-turn steering, a backup camera and a Bluetooth accessory.

Petersen said he also spent months figuring out how to make what would normally be a $15,000-$20,000 adaptation affordable for Make-A-Wish. Last summer, the Danzers bought the Chevy Spark (Erin’s parents made the down payment but she pays the monthly installments) and Erin started lessons for her learner’s permit. Then a few weeks ago, the car went into the shop for adaptations.

“It was killing her to be making payments, but unable to drive it, so this day has been a long time coming,” Kenneth said.

Lori Danzer said this wish has been a blessing for the family, not only because it covered an expense they couldn’t afford, but because Erin doesn’t have to wait any longer to share the freedom of other kids her age. Because her disease is progressive, her condition could change from month to month, so every day she has behind the wheel is precious.

“This will help her blossom and live a wonderful life for as long as she can,” Lori said on Monday, a few hours before the reveal. “What I always say is ‘today is a good day.’ She might wake up one day and not be able to move, so we just take it a day at a time, and today is a very good day.”